American Express ranks highest in customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Credit Card Satisfaction Study. They said there’s two types of customers. One is transactors, who pay their bill off in full each month and for whom membership benefits are the most important drivers of customer satisfaction. The other is revolvers, who don’t pay their bill off in full each month, and for whom APR and fees are the most important drivers of customer satisfaction. So if we flip this survey over….

…we can figure that HSBC, Bank of America, and Capitol One probably have the fewest membership benefits, the highest fees, and the highest APRs. These three companies are certainly not well-liked among our readership.

J.D. Power and Associates attributed the high marks for American Express to the array of membership benefits their cardholders have. While airline miles are some of the most widely dispensed and used membership benefits in the credit card industry, the study found that cashback rewards have a greater impact on customer satisfaction.

Interestingly, while membership benefits drive much of customer satisfaction, most customers are unaware of all the benefits that they have, a factoid provoking enough that we’re going to check in with our credit card company to make sure we know the full power of our plastic.

American Express Ranks Highest in Credit Card Satisfaction [J.D. Power and Associates via FiLife]

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